Adapter for a valve and tank assembly

ABSTRACT

An adaptor for a valve and container generally including a housing consisting of a mounting section on which a valve may be mounted, threadedly connectable to a threaded opening of a container, a partition section secured to the mounting section to provide an outer housing chamber and a diffuser section secured to the partition section within the container to provide an inner housing chamber, the mounting and diffuser sections having ports communicable with ports of the valve and chambers of the container, respectively, means intercommunicating one of the ports of the mounting section and the inner housing chamber, and means intercommunicating one of the ports of the diffuser section with the outer housing chamber.

Elite States Patent 11 1 Barrera 1 Sept. 4, 1973 54] ADAPTER FOR A VALVE AND TANK 3,513,981 5/1970 Mendelow 210 425 x ASSEMBLY Primary Examiner-William.R. Cline [75 Inventor: Salvatorel l. Barrera, Berwwk, Pa. Atwmey ThomaS B van Poole et aL [73] Assignee: Wilkes-Pool Corporation, Berwick,

Pa. [57] ABSTRACT [22] Filed: Jan. 26, 1 972 An adaptor for a valve and container generally including a housing consisting of a mounting section on which [21] Appl' 220834 a valve may be mounted, threadedly connectable to a threaded opening of a container, a. partition section se- [52'] U.S. Cl. 137/590, 210/444, 137/544 cured to the mounting section to provide an outer [51] Int. Cl. Fl6k 55/00 housing chamber and a diffuser section secured to the [58] Field of Search 137/590, 592, 544, partition section within the container to provide an 137/550; 210/239, 240, 251, 419, 423, 425, inner housing chamber, the mounting and diffuser sec- 427, 443, 444, 455, 456, 482 tions having ports communicable with ports of the valve and chambers of the container, respectively, [56] References Cited means intercommunicating one of the ports of the UNITED STATES PATENTS mounting section and the inner housing chamber, and 2 069 5/1949 Leclair 210/423 means intercommunicating one of the ports of the dif- 2:955:712 10/1960 'k' 5 X fuser section with the outer housing chamber. 3,334,754 8/1967 Kudlaty 210/444 3,397,135 8/1968 Otto 210/444 X 5 C aims 5 Drawing Flgures 3,684,100 8/1972 Close 210/444 I 54 5 a Sl -28 24 15855 Q '.1 C

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l1 ll I 1 p-l'l ADAPTER FOR A VALVE AND TANK ASSEMBLY This invention relates to an adapter and more particularly to an adapter suitable for conducting two separate streams of fluidbetween a device having a pair of ports and a container having an internally threaded opening communicating with a pair of chambers within the container.

In the manufacture of certain products, it has been found to be desirable to utilize commercially available components. Often, however, such components are not compatible structurally thereby requiring certain modifications to permit them to be united to provide the desired end product. This'particularly has been found to be the case in the manufacture of filter assemblies consisting of valve units mounted on filter tanks where the valve units are commercially available from valve manufacturers and the filter units usually are available from container manufacturers.

Usually, commercially available valves are provided with a pair of ports and commercially available filter tanks consist of containers having a threaded internal opening communicating with an axial return chamber and a coaxially disposed annular chamber. In cartridge type filters, the cylindrical member dividing the two chambers in the filter tank usually consists of a filter element. In a sand type filter, the annular member separating the axial chamber from the annular chamber usually consist of a cylindrical conduit open at the lower end, and the lower portion of the annular chamber is provided with a bed of filter medium such as sand. The use of either of such types of filter tanks requires an adapter for intercommunicating one of the ports of the valve with the annular chamber of the filter tank, and for intercommunicating the other of the valve ports with the axially disposed chamber of the filter tank.

Accordingly, it is the principle object of the present invention to provide a novel adapter. I

Another object of the present device is to provide a novel adapter for conducting separate streams of fluids.

A further object of the present invention is to .provide a novel adapter suitable for conducting two separate streams of fluid between a device having a pair of ports and a container having an internally threaded opening communicating with a pair of chambers within the container.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a novel adapter suitable for intercommunicating the port of a device and an annular chamber of a container, and intercommunicating another port of such device with an axially disposed chamber of such a container.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel adapter for a valve and filter tank, suitable for use in constructing a filter assembly.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a novel adapter for conducting two separate streams of fluid between a valve having a pair of ports and a filter tank having an internally threaded opening communicating with a pair of chambers within the filter tank.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a novel adapter suitable for intercommunicating a port of a commercially available valve with an annular chamber of a commercially available filter tank and intercommunicating a second port of such valve with an axially disposed chamber of such filter tank.

Another object of the present invention is to provide improved adapter suitable for conducting two separate streams of fluid between a device having a pair of ports and a container having an internally threaded opening communicating with a pair of chambers within the container, which is simple in construction, comparatively inexpensive to manufacture, and effective in performance.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those persons having ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains, from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perpective view of a filter assembly illustrating an embodiment of the invention interconnecting a valve and a filter tank to provide the complete filter assembly, having a portion thereof broken away;

FIG. 2 is a perpective view of the adapter and valve shown-in FIG. 1, illustrating the components thereof in exploded relation;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 3-3 in FIG. 1, having a portion thereof broken away;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 5-5 in FIG. 3.

Briefly described, the present invention relates to an adapter suitable for conducting separate streams of fluid between a device having a pair of ports and a container having an internally threaded opening communieating with first and second chambers within the container, generally including a housing having external threads for threading the housing into the internally threaded opening of the container, outer and inner chambers, first and second outer ports, the first outer portcommunicating with the outer housing chamber and communicable with one of the ports of the device, the second outer port being communicable with the other of the ports of the device, first and second inner ports, the first inner port communicating with the inner housing chamber being communicable with the first container chamber and the second inner port being communicable with the second container chamber when the housing is threaded into the internally threaded opening of the container, means intercommu nicating the second outer port and the second housing chamber and means intercommunicating the second inner port and the first housing chamber.

In the preferred embodiment 'of the invention, the housing generally includes a mounting section connectable to the device provided with the pair of ports, which includes an outer wall portion and an annular flange portion provided with the external threads, a partition section including an intermediate wall portion secured along the periphery thereof to the flange portion of the mounting section to form the outer housing chamber, and a diffuser section including an outer wall portion and an annular flange portion secured along its periphery to the wall portion of the partition section to provide the second housing chamber.

Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated a filter assembly 10 utilizing an embodiment of the invention which particularly is suitable for use with a pump to filter water for swimming pools. The filter assembly 10 includes a filter unit 11, a valve unit 12, and an adapter 13 for mounting the valve unit 12 on the filter unit 11, which constitutes an embodiment of the present invention.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3, the filter unit consists of a container 14 having a circular bottom wall 15 and a cylindrical wall 16 providing an open upper end formed with internal threads 17. Provided on the bottom wall 15 of the container is a shallow dishshaped member 18 disposed coaxially relative to the cylindrical side wall 16, on which there is seated an annular filter element 19. The filter element defines an axial chamber 20 and has an outer diameter less than the diameter of the cylindrical wall 16 to provide an annular chamber 21 between the filter element 19 and the cylindrical wall 16. The upper end of the filter element 19 terminates below the threaded portion of the cylindrical wall 16, and'is provided with an annular cap member 22 having an outer, depending annular flange 23 encompassing the outer, upper periphery of the filter element 19, and an inner, depending annular flange 24 projecting into the upper end of the axial chamber 20 within the filter element.

The filter unit as described, is conventional in construction and operation. Fluid to be filtered is introduced into the annular chamber 21, passes radially through the filter element 19 and then passes upwardly through the axial chamber 20 to be discharged from the unit. The unit also is backwashed by the conventional method of reversing the flow of fluid through the filter element.

Although a cartridge type filter unit is shown in the drawings, this is intended for illustration purposes only and it should be understoodthat other types of filters and particularly high-rate sand filters also can be used with the proposed adapter. High-rate sand filters also are conventional and differ from the cartridge type filter illustrated in the drawings in that a solid conduit terminating above the bottom wall of the container is provided in lieu of a filter cartridge as designated by the by the filter element 19, and the lower portion of the annular chamber is provided with a bed of filter medium such as sand. In such a filter, fluid to be filtered introduced into the annular chamber is caused to How through the bed of filter medium and then pass upwardly through the cylindrical chamber to be discharged from the unit. To facilitate the flow of the fluid, radially disposed conduits are provided in the lower end of the filter medium which are provided with small openings that collect the filtered effluent and conduct it radially inwardly to the axially disposed chamber.

The valve unit 12 consists of a housing 24, a valve member 25 disposed within the housing, a cap member 26 seated on the housing, and a valve actuator 27 mounted on the cap member 26 and operatively connected to the valve member 25. The housing 24 is provided with an upper cylindrical chamber 28 having a bottom wall 29. As best illustrated in FIG. 5, the lower portion of the housing 24 is provided with longitudinally extending, circumferentially spaced passageways 30 through 34. The passageway 30 intercommunicates the upper chamber 28 and a tangential passageway provided with an internally threaded end section 36 adapted to receive the threaded end of a waste line. The passageway 31 intercommunicates the upper chamber 28 and a port 37 in the lower end of the housing 24. The passageway 32 communicates with the upper chamber 28 and also with the passageway 31 through a connecting passageway 38. The passageway 33 intercommunicates the upper chamber 28 and a tangential passageway 39 having a threaded end section 40 adapted to receive a threaded end connector of a pump return line. The passageway 34 intercommunicates the upper chamber 28 and a port 41 in the lower end of the housing 24. It will be noted that the axes of the ports 37 and 40 are parallel to the axis of the housing 24, are disposed on a diameter perpendicular to the axis of the housing, on opposite sides thereof, and are equally spaced from the axis of the housing.

Also communicating with the upper chamber 28 of housing 24 is a tangential passageway 42 disposed in longitudinal alignment with tangential passageway 39 and having a threaded end section 43 adapted to receive a threaded end connector of a pump pressure line. The passageway 42 is best illustrated in FIG. 4.

Axially disposed on the bottom wall 29 of upper housing chamber 28 is a pivot post 44. Also seated in concentric grooves in bottom wall 29 is a pair of sealing rings 45 and 46. It will be noted, as best illustrated in FIG. 3, the inner sealing ring 45 is disposed radially inwardly relative to the passageways 30 through 34 and the sealing ring 46 is disposed radially outwardly from such passageways.

The valve member 25 is provided with an axial recess 47 adapted to receive the pivot post 44 of the housing to center the valve member within the upper housing chamber 28, a bottom wall 48 seated on the sealing rings 45 and 46, and a top wall 49 being spaced below the upper end of the housing 24. As best shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the bottom wall 48 of the valve member is provided with a recess 50 extending 180 about the axis of the valve member, and a passageway 51 extending over an arc of approximately 60 and being equally spaced circumferentially from the radially disposed edges of recess 50. It will be appreciated that the recess 50 is adapted to intercommunicate successive passageways of passageways 30 through 34, and that passageway 51 is adapted to communicate selectively with one of such passageways. In addition, it will be seen that passageway 51 constitutes a longitudinal passageway which functions to communicate a selected one of passageways 30 through 34 with the upper housing chamber 28.

The cap member 26 is seated on the upper end of the housing 24 to close the upper housing chamber 28, and is secured thereto by a plurality of bolts interconnecting a plurality of radially projecting flanges 52 with a plurality of similar flanges 53 on the upper end of the housing memben'The cap member is provided with an axially disposed opening 54 and an annular, depending neck portion 55 providing an annular shoulder 56. The valve member 25 is urged into sealing engagement with the sealing rings 45 and 46 by means of a coil spring 57 interposed between the annular shoulder 56 and an annular washer 58 seated on the upper wall 49 of the valve member.

.loumaled in a bushing 59 disposed within the axial opening 54 is a pin 60 of actuator 27, having the lower end thereof embedded and rigidly secured to the valve member 25, and the upper end thereof projecting above the cap member 26. The actuator further consists of a handle 61 pivotally connected adjacent the lower end thereof to the upper end of the pin 60. The

lower end of the handle 61, adjacent its pivotal connection with the pin 60 is provided with a portion 62 having a greater radial dimension relative to the pivotal connection between the handle 61 and the pin 60, than the radial dimension of the cap member engaging surface 63 of the handle, which functions as a cam or a fulcrum point when the handle 61 is moved downwardly at the free end thereof to lift the pin 60 and, correspondingly, the valve 25 against the action of the spring 57. It will be appreciated that when the freepnd of the handle 61 is depressed to lift the valve member 25 against the action of the spring 57, the handle also may be rotated to reset the position of the valve member 25. The lower end of the handle 61 also is provided with an indicator portion 64 which is lifted when the handle is depressed, and which may be positioned in circumferentially spaced recesses 65 in the cap member to position the valve member 25 in designated, preset positions to provide desired fluid flows through the valve unit.

As best illustrated in FIG. 2, the adapter section 13 consists of a mounting section 65, a partition section 66 and a diffuser section 67. The mounting section 65 includes a circular, outer wall member 68 having radially offset ports 69 and 70, which is seatable about its periphery on the upper end of cylindrical wall 16 of filter unit 11. Formed integral with the wall member 68 are projecting conduit portions 71 and 72 which extend into the ports 37 and 41 of the valve housing 24 to communicate the ports 69 and 70 with passageways 31 and 34 of the valve housing, respectively. Prefaberably, the mounting section 65 of the adapter is permanently secured to the valve housing 24 in the position as described by cement or other suitable means. Also formed integral with the wall member 68 is an annular flange 73 provided with external threads 74 which may be threaded on to the internal threads 17 provided on the upper end of cylindrical wall 16 to mount the adapter 13 on the filter unit 11. As best illustrated in FIG. 3, the upper inner edge of the cylindrical wall 16 of the filter unit is beveled as in 75, on which there is seated a sealing ring 76 which is engaged by the innerannular surface 77 of wall member 68, to seal the space between the adapter and the filter unit.

The partition section 66 consists of a circular partition wall 77 having an axially disposed port 78 and a radially offset port 79. The wall member 77 is permanently secured along its periphery to the inner end of flange portion 73 to provide an outerchamber 80 between the outer wall member 68 and the wall member 77. The wallmember 77 further is formed withan axially projecting conduit portion 81 communicating with the port 78, and a radially offset conduit 82 communicating with the radially offset port 79 and which extends into the port 69 in outer wall member 68 to communicate directly with conduit 71.

The diffuser section 67 is provided with an inner circular wall member 83, having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the intermediate wall member 77 and an axially disposed port 84. The wall member 83 also is formed with an annular flange portion 85 pennanently secured by cementing or any other suitable means along its edge to the periphery of the intermediate wall member 77 and an annular portion 86 permanently secured along its edge to the free end of the conduit portion 81 to provide anannular inner chamber87 and communicate the port 84 with the outer chamber 80 through conduit 81. The annular flange portion 85 further is provided with plurality of circumferentially spaced ports 88.

When the adapter 13 is mounted on the filter unit 1 1 by threading the mounting section 65 thereof into the upper end of the cylindrical filter wall 16, the inner wall member 83 of the adapter diffuser section will engage the annular cap member 22 to seal the annular cham ber 21 of the filter unit from the axial chamber 20 thereof. In addition, the inner chamber 87 of the adapter will communicate with the annular chamber 21 of the filter unit through circumferentially spaced openings 88, and the outer chamber 80 of the adapter mounting section will communicate with axial filter chamber 20 through conduit 81 and port 84. In essence, it will be noted that the adapter 13 intercommunicates the port 37 of the valve unit with the annular chamber 21 of the filter unit, and. intercommunicates the port 41 of the valve unit with the axial chamber 20 of the filter unit.

In the operation of the filter assembly 10, with the valve 25 in the position as illustrated in FIGS. 3 through 5 and pump pressure and return lines connected to passageways 42 and 39 of the valve unit, fluid under pressure laden with substance to be filtered, is introduced through passageway 42 of the valve unit into the upper valve chamber 28. The fluid then passes downwardly through the passageway 51 in valve member 25, passageway 31 in valve housing 24, conduit 37 in adapter mounting section 65, conduit 82 of adapter partition section 66, outer chamber 87 and passageway 88 in adapter diffuser section 66, into the annular filter chamber 21. The fluid then flows radially inwardly through the filter element 19 into axially disposed filter chamber 20. From there, the effluent flowsupwardly through conduit 81 of adapter partition section 66, upper chamber 80 and conduit 72 of adapter mounting section 65 into passageway 34 of valve housing 24. Then, the effluent flows into recess of valve member 25 and on through passageways 33 and 39 in the filter housing to be discharged into the return line of the pump.

When it is desired to backwash the filter element 19, the handle 61 of the actuator is depressed to move the valve member 25 against the action of the spring 57,

' and then rotated 180 to register. the passageway 51 of duits 82 and 71 into passageway 3.1 of the valve housv ing. The fluid then would be conducted through recess 50 in valve member 25 into passageway 30 to be discharged through passageway 35 to a waste line.

It will be noted that the adapter 13 can be utilized with any type of a device having a pair of ports such as the ports 37 and 41 of valve unit 12, and a container having a pair of chambers such as chambers 20 and 21 of filter unit 11, to intercommunicate each of such ports with a separate chamber. Although the present invention has been described in connection with the mounting of a valve unit on a filter unit, it should be understood that the application of the novel adapter should not be limited to such specific types of devices.

The adapter is described, can be formed from any suitable material by means of any adequate-methods. The particular material selected, however, preferably should be of a type which would not react physically or chemically with the fluid with which-it is used. Preferably, for filter assemblies used with swimming pools, the material should be of a type which does not react with water and the chemical additives normally used in swimming pools. It has been found that most plastics are suitable for such applications.

It will be appreciated, that in the manufacture of filter assemblies as described, the present invention readily permits the utilization of commercially available valve and filter units such as the units 11 and 12 which greatly facilitates the manufacture of such assemblies.

From the foregoing detailed description, it will be evident that there are a number of changes, adaptations and modifications of the present invention which come within the province of those persons skilled in the art. However, it is intended that all such variations not departing from the spirit of the invention be considered as within the scope thereof as limited solely by the appendent claims.

I claim:

1. An adapter suitable for conducting separate streams of fluid between a device having a pair of ports and a container having an internally threaded opening communicating with first and second chambers within said container comprising a housing including a mounting section connectable to said device which includes an outer wall portion and an annular depending flange portion provided with external threads for threading said housing into the internally threaded opening of said container, a partition section including an intermediate wall portion spaced from said outer wall portion of said mounting section and secured along the periphery thereof to the flange portion of said mounting section to form an outer housing chamber therebetween,

and a diffuser section including an outer wall'portion spaced from said intermediate wall portion of said intermediate section and an annular flange portion secured along its periphery to the wall portion of said partition section to provide an inner housing chamber, the outer wall portion of said mounting section having first and second outer ports, said first outer port communicating with said outer housing chamber and communicable with one of the ports of said device, said second outer port being communicable with the other of the ports of said device, the outer wall portion of said diffuser section having first and second inner ports, said first inner port communicating with said inner housing chamber and being communicable with said first container chamber and said second inner port being communicable with said second container chamber when said housing is threaded into the internally threaded opening of said container, means intercommunicating said second outer port and said inner housing chamber and means intercommunicating said second inner port and said outer housing chamber.

2. An adapter according to claim 1 wherein said diffuser section includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced ports communicating with said inner housing chamber and communicable with said first container chamber when said housingis threaded into the internally threaded opening of said container, and wherein said second inner port is disposed axially in the outer wall portion of said diffuser section;

3. An adapter according to claim 1 wherein said first and second outer ports are disposed in the outer wall a portion of said mounting section, on opposite sides of the axis of said housing.

4. An adapter according to claim 1 wherein said means intercommunicating with said second outer port and said inner housing chamber and said means intercommunicating with said second inner port and said outer housing chamber comprise cylindrical conduits.

5. An adapter according to claim 1 wherein the annular flange portion of said diffuser section is provided with a plurality of circumferentially spaced ports communicating with said inner housing chamber and communicable with first container chamber when said housing is threaded into the internally threaded opening of said container, said second inner port is disposed in the outer wall portion of said diffuser section axially relative to said circumferentially spaced ports, said first and second outer ports are disposed in said outer wall portion of said mounting section, on opposite sides of the axis of said housing, and said means intercommunicating said second outer port and said inner housing chamber and said means intercommunicating said second inner port and said outer housing chamber comprise cylindrical conduits.

I I! II I I 

1. An adapter suitable for conducting separate streams of fluid between a device having a pair of ports and a container having an internally threaded opening communicating with first and second chambers within said container comprising a housing including a mounting section connectable to said device which includes an outer wall portion and an annular depending flange portion provided with external threads for threading said housing into the internally threaded opening of said container, a partition section including an intermediate wall portion spaced from said outer wall portion of said mounting section and secured along the periphery thereof to the flange portion of said mounting section to form an outer housing chamber therebetween, and a diffuser section including an outer wall portion spaced from said intermediate wall portion of said intermeDiate section and an annular flange portion secured along its periphery to the wall portion of said partition section to provide an inner housing chamber, the outer wall portion of said mounting section having first and second outer ports, said first outer port communicating with said outer housing chamber and communicable with one of the ports of said device, said second outer port being communicable with the other of the ports of said device, the outer wall portion of said diffuser section having first and second inner ports, said first inner port communicating with said inner housing chamber and being communicable with said first container chamber and said second inner port being communicable with said second container chamber when said housing is threaded into the internally threaded opening of said container, means intercommunicating said second outer port and said inner housing chamber and means intercommunicating said second inner port and said outer housing chamber.
 2. An adapter according to claim 1 wherein said diffuser section includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced ports communicating with said inner housing chamber and communicable with said first container chamber when said housing is threaded into the internally threaded opening of said container, and wherein said second inner port is disposed axially in the outer wall portion of said diffuser section.
 3. An adapter according to claim 1 wherein said first and second outer ports are disposed in the outer wall portion of said mounting section, on opposite sides of the axis of said housing.
 4. An adapter according to claim 1 wherein said means intercommunicating with said second outer port and said inner housing chamber and said means intercommunicating with said second inner port and said outer housing chamber comprise cylindrical conduits.
 5. An adapter according to claim 1 wherein the annular flange portion of said diffuser section is provided with a plurality of circumferentially spaced ports communicating with said inner housing chamber and communicable with first container chamber when said housing is threaded into the internally threaded opening of said container, said second inner port is disposed in the outer wall portion of said diffuser section axially relative to said circumferentially spaced ports, said first and second outer ports are disposed in said outer wall portion of said mounting section, on opposite sides of the axis of said housing, and said means intercommunicating said second outer port and said inner housing chamber and said means intercommunicating said second inner port and said outer housing chamber comprise cylindrical conduits. 